Italian equipment suppliers keen on local packaging market

Italian firms look for opportunities in the Vietnamese printing and packaging market.

Italy’s Uteco, the world-leader in the production of printing machines for flexible packaging, has been present in Vietnam for three years. Tran Viet Hai, sales director of Vietflex, a local distributor of Uteco, shared that Vietnam is a developing market with a robust packaging sector. In particular, flexible packaging for the food and beverage industry is projected to grow well in the country given that per capital consumption remains low. Many companies are investing in EU-imported machines to improve product quality for consumers.

He added that Uteco is supplying printing machines and laminating machines for food packaging, such as instant noodles and snacks. The company has recorded sales of €3 million ($3.42 million) after three years of launching in Vietnam. The figure is beyond Uteco’s expectations, given that the brand is quite new here.

Meanwhile, Italy’s Turatti Group, alongside with 21 other Italian companies, also attended ProPak Vietnam 2019 held in Ho Chi Minh City last week to showcase the latest solutions and technology.

Thanh Nguyen, the representative of Turatti in Southeast Asia, said that Turatti chose Vietnam to set up its headquarter in the Asia-Pacific three years ago due to the market’s huge potential. The firm has developed a facility based in Hanoi to serve growing orders in both Vietnam and regional markets.

According to Thanh, Turatti is specialised in designing and manufacturing machinery and complete lines for processing tropical fruit, vegetables, as well as for juice and puree making. In 2018, the firm posted a 15 per cent rise in revenue against 2017. It has also expanded investment and localisation rate in the country to meet the demand and supply more types of machinery.

Aldo Peretti, president of the Italian Manufacturers’ Association of Machinery for the Graphic, Converting and Paper Industry, said that the strongly developing market of Vietnam is tempting more international and European companies to this side of the world, and market data confirms the trend.

“There’s a growth in the food and beverage, healthcare, and personal care industries, a bright future for our business. Vietnam, a country where the demand for new technologies increases every day, is a great challenge for us. Italian companies are ready to boost the Vietnamese market with our Industry 4.0 know-how and the fame of ‘Made in Italy’ goods around the world,”he noted.

According to Paolo Lemma, Italian Trade Commissioner to Vietnam, most companies participating in Propak & Printech Vietnam 2019 have distributors, agencies, representative offices or branches in Vietnam. In addition, they are also seeking further opportunities in this emerging market, as well as consolidating co-operation with Vietnamese businesses – and are looking for new partners.

“In 2018, Italy continued to affirm her position as one of the leading manufacturers in the packaging and printing industry. In the first 11 months of 2018, the total export turnover of packaging and printing machinery for the Italian food, beverage, and tobacco sectors amounted to some €3.9 billion ($4.45 billion). The value of equipment and machinery exported from Italy to Vietnam was €25.2 million ($28.7 million), up 2.4 per cent from 2017,” said Lemma.

A large number of Italian packaging companies were present at the Italian Booth at Propak & Printech Vietnam in recent years. This year, the number of enterprises specialising in the food processing industry, particularly in fruit and vegetable processing, has increased remarkably.

This indicates that Propak Vietnam has brought co-operation opportunities for both Vietnamese and Italian businesses, as many Vietnamese enterprises want to be equipped with modern Italian machinery and technologies to improve product quality.